Onondaga County Legislature turns back on plans for outdoor Syracuse Crunch game

The proposed Syracuse Crunch outdoor hockey game at Alliance Bank Stadium is skating on thin ice at the Onondaga County Legislature.

Crunch owner Howard Dolgon hoped that the lawmakers would vote Tuesday on whether to spend $350,000 from room-occupancy tax receipts to help put on the first outdoor match in American Hockey League history. A "yes" vote would let him court corporate sponsors and begin preparing for the Dec. 5 game against the Binghamton Senators.

It's now uncertain whether that vote will be taken.

Legislator James Rhinehart was listed as the bill's sponsor as chairman of the money-minding Ways and Means Committee until two days ago, when he announced he would neither sponsor it nor ask Ways and Means to vote on it.

Unless another legislator steps up as sponsor, the bill will be left off Tuesday's agenda and no vote will be taken.

"It's not a tight proposal yet," said Rhinehart, R-Skaneateles. He said he'd like to see a plan that includes performance guarantees on the part of the Crunch and makes the team, not the county, pay to repair any damage to the stadium's brand-new grass field.

He and other legislators also are concerned that the county would be taking a sponsorship position in the event that it shouldn't take, he said.

"I think that the county is open to it. We think it's a good idea. A lot of people do," Rhinehart said. "But we want to see the promoter take a more active position in it."

The evaporation of support two weeks after another Legislature committee had endorsed the contest took Dolgon and County Executive Joanie Mahoney aback. Mahoney and her staff have been pushing the event as a way to pump an estimated $1 million or more tourist dollars into the economy and bring national attention to Syracuse.

"We can't afford to go it alone on everything, and this is an opportunity for a partnership. It's exciting. It will generate revenue for our local businesses," Mahoney said. "And at the very least, 'no' is an answer. Not voting at all, I don't think, is a responsible way."

Dolgon said he was obtaining the phone numbers of all 19 legislators from the county executive's office and would start calling them Thursday to explain what he wants to do and why he believes it makes sense for the community.

"The status quo and the same old same old, we don't find it acceptable," Dolgon said. "For Syracuse, it would be like the Super Bowl. We don't have enough hotel rooms to put on the Final Four. We're not going to get the Super Bowl. This is as glamorous as it gets. Why not embrace it?"

The Crunch already would assume considerable risk, Dolgon said. The team would rent a portable rink, a scoreboard and perhaps a video board, provide additional concessionaires, pay for emergency crews and insurance, and pay marketing costs. The rink alone could run $250,000, promotions another $200,000, he said.

The county would spend $70,000 for site preparation, $75,000 for operations and electrical upgrades, $75,000 for extra seating, $20,000 for snow removal and parking, $20,000 to remove fill material and $90,000 for grass resodding. The county would get back an estimated $88,000 from parking and concessions.